A Ninja Hidden In The Mist
by Crystallea1321
Summary: Kasumi is a ninja from Hidden Mist, she left after her adoptive mother, Ayame, was murdered. Kasumi goes off in search of her killers and in the process meets Jiraiya and Naruto. Jiraiya sends her to Hidden Horizon, where she hopes to learn more about her Mother's killers. This is set in the two year window when Naruto is traveling with Jiraiya, before Shipuden.
1. Chapter 1

A/N- So, this starts after Kasumi met Jiraiya and Naruto. Jiraiya sent her to the Village Hidden in the Horizon, to talk to the Suikage. I don't actually have any of the original characters from the series in this story at the moment, except for being mentioned in passing, I may have some come in later, I don't know. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter One

I looked around at the village. The buildings were white washed and I saw people running along the roofs, leaping from one building to the next. There were also people taking the more conventional route on the streets below. There were little kids running in between passersby, chasing each other and laughing hysterically. I smiled a little sadly at that, remembering my home and the way I had done the same thing with the pups, wrestling and playing chase the monkey.

I couldn't help but wonder how such a happy, peaceful village could have produced the monsters that had killed my family? Was it really this village? Had Jiraiya-sama sent me to the wrong village? But, no, I could see the same symbol on the forehead protectors of many of the adults.

I sighed and glanced down to my side, "Ready?" I asked the wolf waiting at my side.

She flicked her tail in the wolf's way of saying yes.

I nodded and we started forward, merging in with the crowd. I looked around for the building Jiraiya-sama had told me would be where I could most likely find someone to help me.

I spotted it then, a tall gray tower that over looked much of the village. "Come on, Eboni!" I started to run, my wolf right on my heels.

When we reached the building I stared up at it. It was even bigger than it had seemed when I first saw it. I had to crane my neck just to see the top. I wondered how I had missed it in the first place.

When I went in, I walked up to a desk that had a young woman sitting behind it, looking through a stack of papers that was at least three feet tall. "Umm?" I said trying to politely get her attention. I didn't want to get thrown out until I had found out where the Suikage was.

She finally looked up after my fifth attempt at getting her attention. "Oh, I didn't see you, can I help you?" she asked.

The woman had short brown hair, and green eyes that peered at us through thin rectangular black glasses. She had a trim figure and looked like you could snap her arm like a twig, but something told me she was stronger then she appeared. She had a pencil stuck behind one ear, her hands were smudged with ink and she had a black streak across her cheek where she must have wiped her ink stained hands.

"Yeah, umm, where could I find the Suikage?" I asked.

She started searching through the mess of papers on her desk. "Aha!" she exclaimed, holding up a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "Here it is. Let's see…" she ran her finger along the characters written on the paper. "What's your name?"

"Kasumi."

"Sorry, but you don't appear to have an appointment."

"No, I just got here, but I need to talk to the Suikage now."

"I'm sorry but I can't let anyone in to see him with out an appointment."

"Can't you ju…"

I was interrupted by another voice, "Rina! When are those two lazy bums getting back?"

The woman whose name must be Rina, sighed and then turned and yelled back "Arashi and Sho are supposed to be back today at some point!"

"When?" the voice yelled back, it sounded male.

"How should I know? They do whatever they want!" Rina called back. She sounded pretty annoyed and I wondered whom she was talking to, and whom they were talking about.

"Ugh! I need to talk to them, dang it!" he complained. "You would think they'd be more considerate of they're Suikage?" He said this more quietly but I still heard it. I glanced at Eboni and she nodded.

We took off up the stairs before Rina remembered us and tried to stop us. Not that she really could have. When we got to the top of a very long staircase, we came out into a round room, with a desk at the center of it, a guy was sitting behind it his bare feet up and a book in hand. I couldn't see much of his face because of the book, but I could make out a black head of hair.

I walked up and dropped the letter Jiraiya-sama had given me on the desk in front of me. "Here, I was told to let you read this first."

The book was slowly lowered to reveal blue eyes, which studied me up and down, "And you are?"

"My names Kasumi."

"Surname?" he asked.

"Just Kasumi." I replied in a toneless voice.

"Alright, and what's this?"

"Obviously not a letter," I replied sarcastically.

He just looked at me, and then opened the letter and started reading it, setting his book down and giving me a quick glimpse of his face. He looked young, maybe a few years older than me, with a few days growth of beard and a strong jaw line.

I watched what I could see of his face for any expression while he read the letter, but it stayed blank until he got to the end. Then his eyebrows went up in surprise.

"You know the Toad Sage?" he asked in surprise.

"I only met him a week or so ago on my way here but yes I do know him." I wasn't really sure why that merited such surprise, but I didn't feel like questioning it.

"So, what do you need to know?" he asked. I assume Jiraiya-sama must have told him I needed information, since I never did get to read that letter.

"I'm looking for 3 men, who I believe come from your village." I replied carefully keeping my tone neutral I didn't want to give away my intent before he told me what I needed to know.

"What do they look like?"

"One has black hair worn in a pony tail, another has bright blue hair and soulless black eyes; the third has spiky brown hair. The blue haired one uses fire jutsu and the pony-tailed one it extremely good with weapons, as for the third he…" I broke off as 2 people walked into the office. I turned around and stiffened.

One had silver spiky hair and golden eyes, but I barely noticed him. My attention immediately focused on the other one. He had green eyes and long black hair pulled back in a ponytail.

I heard Eboni give a low growl. I didn't respond. I just moved, a kunai in my hand aimed for the guy's throat. But before I could get there, the guy moved and I felt a force slam into me. I hit the wall, but picked myself up, instantly moving aside, dodging the fist that slammed into the wall where my head had been. I sent a foot into my attackers stomach, knocking the wind out of him. I caught a glimpse of silver and then a Kunai was pressed to my neck. "Don't move or I'll kill you," a voice hissed in my ear.

"I would love to see you try," I spat back. Then I closed my eyes and let my body dissolve into mist.

The guy stared at the spot where I used to be. "A clone?"

I reformed behind him, "Not really," I replied as I performed some hand signs and froze him solid. "Now, where is Ponytail?" I asked looking around.

"Here!" Eboni growled I looked over to where she stood facing off with said guy.

I walked over; as I did I glanced around and saw the Suikage still sitting at his desk, apparently reading his book. I looked back in time to see a wall of black fur come flying into me. I grunted and pushed Eboni off me. "You ok?"

"Fine," she wined, trying to get up. She got part way there before collapsing with a whimper; I looked at her more closely, noticing several gashes on her legs and a deep slash across her side. I ground my teeth. Rage was pouring into me, instilling me with an icy calm. I looked up at the man who had done this to my friend, at one of the men who had killed Ayame, the only human mother I had ever known.

"I'm going to kill you." I said with quiet eerie voice. I saw fear streak across his face. " You killed Ayame and now you hurt Eboni, again. Tell me where the other two are and I'll make it quick, otherwise…." I let the unfinished threat hang in the air.

Ponytail looked at me in confusion. "Ayame…? Other two? What are you talking about?" he asked, as if he really didn't know what I was talking about.

"Ayame, one of the women you and your two buddies, killed about three weeks ago. Remember? She was with her squad, you killed them too, and the other squad we sent after them, you murdered them!" I almost screamed the last part, launching myself at him, a kunai in each hand.

He dodged, slicing a long thin blade at me as he did. " I have no idea what you're talking about! I haven't killed anyone!" he shouted.

"Liar!" I screamed dodging the sword and throwing one of my kunai as I did. It traced a thin red line on his face that quickly grew into a stream of blood.

_Thunk! _I look to where the kunai stuck, its tip buried in the ice I had formed around the silver-haired guy. _Crack, crick, crack! _I watched as thin cracks spread out, growing wider, until the ice shattered in a small explosion of ice crystals.

Shoot, I thought, now I have to fight two people!

The cloud of white particle suddenly burst into brilliant light, nearly blinding me. When my vision cleared I saw a figure, lightning running up and down his body, the light reflecting off the ice shards in blinding prisms. "Ooohh, this is going to be fun!" the figure yelled.

Then he vanished, or seemed to. I realized his intent to late and was hit by a lightning charged fist. I was flung into the air only to be met by a foot, slamming me down. I lost track of the hits I took and ignored the pain focusing inward on the inner stillness I always have inside me. I slowly pulled it out, and let the energy around me fill that place, allowing me to take in more power. I would need that power to heal Eboni; I had been too rash to fight them head on.

When I came back to the world, I saw a knee coming at my face. I dodged, performing a hand seal, then I blew hard. A roiling, white cloud spewed from my pursed lips, engulfing the entire room. The temperature dropped at least thirty degrees and frost started to accumulate on everything. In the thick mist, I ran silently to Eboni. I placed a hand on her injured side and concentrated pulling the natural chakra from my surroundings and concentrated it on her injury, healing her as I did. I moved to the other major injuries, working fast. When I was done, Eboni got up shook herself, and then faded into mist. I joined her, searching out our enemies in secret. I found Ponytail first, and formed silently behind him. I had started making rapid hand signs when suddenly the Suikage stood in front of me.

"Stop, I don't feel like having one of my best ninja killed," He said. He had a hand out, reaching for me. I backed up, that's when I saw the eyes. His eyes were red with black, spiraled triangles ringing the pupils.

I froze, I didn't know what those eyes meant but I knew it wasn't good and that I was no match for this man. I could feel the power rolling off him.

Ponytail whirled around at the sound of his Suikage's voice, his eyes widened when he saw both of us standing behind him.

"Besides, Sho wouldn't kill anyone, unless they attacked him first. And he certainly wouldn't be running around with Sendo, and Ayumu. My guess is that it was Shin who you saw," the Suikage explained, as if this was just an ordinary chat, not a matter of life and death.

"What? Why didn't you say that before?" I exploded. "And how do I know I can trust you?"

"Well, besides the fact that The Toad Sage sent you to me, and that I haven't killed you yet, you don't."

"Alright. So, why didn't you mention this earlier?" I asked again.

"I was bored and I thought it might be interesting to see how you reacted," he replied offhandedly.

"You what?" Sho yelled. "You let her attack me knowing full well why she was doing it and that you could stop her?"

I was feeling similar anger. If what he was saying was true, then I had just attacked an innocent man, for no reason but that he happened to have an evil twin. I looked over at Sho, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, and we should." he replied emphatically. Then we both punched the Suikage in the face. He fell over onto his butt, with a shocked expression on his face.

"What was that for?" he asked in consternation.

"For being an idiot," I replied.

"For letting me get beat up," Sho replied at the same time.

"Hey, can one of you get this wolf off of me?" a voice called.

We peered through the dissipating mist to see Eboni sitting proudly on Silver Hair's chest. I burst out laughing, "Eboni, stop playing and get over here."

"Fine, but only if I get rabbit later," she replied in human, startling everyone else. "So, are you sure we should trust them," she asked in wolf, as she sauntered over to stand next to me.

"I don't know, but I don't think Sho was the one who attacked Ayame. He should be dead or recovering from that injury I gave him last time, now that I think about it. And, the way he seemed genuinely surprised by my accusation is also fairly good evidence." I replied in the same language.

"So, could you tell me why you attacked Sho, with more details please, Jiraiya-sama wasn't very forth coming with those?" The Suikage asked politely.

I considered for a moment, "Hmmm, no, I don't think I will considering you didn't tell me what I needed to know until after I got into a pointless fight."

"Hey, I said I was sorry!"

"Actually, no you didn't."

"Well, sorry. Now, will you tell me?" he asked pleadingly.

"No," I replied shaking my head.

"So, who are you?" Silver Hair asked.

"My names Kasumi, and you are?"

"My names Arashi of the Storm Fist, they call me that because I have such a strong fist and can use lightning."

"Really? I never would have guessed," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "It's not like you didn't hit me with said fist or anything."

Arashi seemed oblivious to the sarcasm, and asked another question, "So why is your hair silver, wasn't it blonde before?"

I blinked, my hair was silver? I pulled a long strand forward and saw that it was indeed silver. Huh, that was new. Wait, was I still in sage mode? I assessed my inner stillness and found it brimming with chakra. I let it flow out, and I watched my hair change back to its usual pale blonde color. I had forgotten it did that when I used Sage Mode, since I usually wasn't paying attention to my hair when I used it.

"Whoa, now it's back to normal. Why were you using a transformation jutsu?" Arashi asked.

"No, actually I was in Sage Mode."

Everyone stared at me. Arashi looked like someone had just given him an unexpected present. Sho's mouth was hanging open and it looked like someone had just told him that he was dating his younger sister. The Suikage looked like the cat, who had just caught the canary. I noticed that his eyes were back to normal as well.

"What?" I asked, not sure how to read their various expressions.

"S Sage Mode?" Sho managed to gasp out, between great gasping breaths. I was afraid he would faint from hyperventilation.

"Fight me!" Arashi yelled getting into a fighter's stance facing me.

"I just did," I told Arashi, exasperated. What was up with this guy?

"Huh, I thought it was sage mode you were using, but I was under the impression that you had to meditate and stay perfectly still to achieve use of nature chakra. But you did so while being beaten to a pulp, how did you do it?" the Suikage asked curiously.

"Hmm, I'm sure I can explain this very well, but I'll try. I think part of it is that I learned from different teachers than the other sages I've heard of. Jiraiya-sama was trained by toads and supposedly all the other ninja sages were as well, but I learned from the Mist Hunters and The Wave People so I suppose I learned a different form of the sage mode. I didn't even know it was anything special until I came to Hidden Mist. To me it was just a part of life.

"When I use sage Mode, I retreat into a special place, where I am always still, and always one with nature. It can be dangerous to do this in a fight because I lose myself to the world, but it allows me to become much stronger then I could on my own. Those who taught me use only nature chakra, so I learned this method as soon as I was old enough to understand speech." I explained.

The Suikage looked at me with interest and possibly respect, but I couldn't be sure, since his face was so hard to read. Sho looked stunned and thoroughly impressed. Arashi looked ready to burst, "You have to teach me that!"

"I don't think I can teach anyone it. I'm not a good teacher. I don't even remember when I first learned." I explained. Plus I didn't really think that knowing how to use Sage Mode would be a good thing for this guy. From what I'd seen, he was way to reckless and bloodthirsty. He'd probably get himself killed the first time he got in a fight, or he'd destroy the entire village. The more I thought about it the more I thought it would be the latter.

"Ahhh, come on. That would have been so cool to be able to use Sage Mode like that," he complained.

"You probably would have just turned into mist anyways," I said shrugging.

"Turn into mist?" Sho asked.

"If you use Sage Mode wrong you can turn into mist permanently," I explained.

"I thought you turned into a toad."

"Well, not where I come from. I've never even heard of that," I replied frowning in consternation, why would you turn into a toad?

"Interesting," the Suikage said, he was now back at his desk in his original position, feet up and book in hand. "Now, Arashi, Sho, I would like a debriefing. As for you, Kasumi, could you go tell Rina that she should find you a room to stay in for now, until we can find you an apartment."

"What? But I'm not planning on staying. If Soulless Blueberry and company aren't here, than me and Eboni are going to move on and keep hunting."

"No, you are going to stay here and join my village, since you are not part of Hidden Mist any more." It wasn't a request, although he said it almost like it was. "Don't worry you'll get your revenge, just be patient while we gather Intel. These people are missing Nin from here so I would like my own people to deal with them. I will send you out as soon as we find them. In the mean time I'll make sure you have something interesting to do," he promised.

I looked at him for a long moment. The entire time he had been talking he hadn't once looked up from his book but I got the feeling that refusing would be a really bad idea. And besides it would be nice to have an actual place to stay for once. "Fine, but only as long as it stays entertaining, if I get bored I can't promise anything."

"Agreed," He set the book aside, reached out and grabbed my hand, startling me. He shook it and then returned to the book. I frowned at him, then headed downstairs to go have a talk about a room.

A/N- So did you like it? I hope so, because I tried my best. Please review, helpful criticisms welcome. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I only own my characters and plotlines.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- Well, I finally got this up. Sorry for the wait, if anyone actually read it. I hope you enjoy it. I will eventually get the next chapter up. Read and enjoy.

Chapter Two

I groaned as I rolled out of bed. Well, at least it was a bed and not the ground. I would have been in worse pain then. I looked at the hotel room I had: four walls painted green, a bed with cream sheets and a green coverlet that matched the walls, rugs in more green strewn over the hard wood floors, two windows curtained with more green and one door leading to the hallway, another led to a bathroom, which I dragged my sorry butt over to. Thankfully this room wasn't all green it was just plain old white with cream tiled floors.

I shucked out of my clothes revealing mottled black and blue bruising over most of my body. No wonder I was sore, I was a walking blackberry. This was why I shouldn't use Sage mode in the middle of a battle. I was lucky all I had gotten was some bruises, if I had done that against someone who actually wanted to kill me, I'd be dead now. I made a mental note to activate it before I started a fight or at least use an ice clone or two as decoys.

I stepped into the shower, and hissed as the hot water hit my battered body. Slowly, the torrent of water desensitized my body and actually jump-started the healing process, as I pulled nature chakra from it slowly, healing myself.

When, I was clean and my bruises had faded to yellow and green splotches, I got out and dressed. Pulling a black shirt over my slim frame, and a pair of loose black pants on to cover my long, strong legs. I brushed my long, blonde hair back into a ponytail and jumped out the window onto the porch roof below.

I heard a quiet woof from above and looked up to see Eboni looking down at me, a wolfish grin on her black face. Her coat of pure black fur shimmered in the sun and her fluffy tail waved a greeting.

"Hey! Did you figure out where we can get food?" I asked.

"I believe we need money for it, or we could steal again?"

"I have no money, so stealing it is," I told her with a mischievous grin.

"I don't think that will be necessary," a voice said from behind us.

I turned around to see Sho sitting on the chimney. "And why not?" I asked feeling a little disappointed. I enjoyed testing my skills to see how good I was at the art of subterfuge.

"Because I have money, so we can buy food. It's a good thing the Suikage sent me to look after you or who knows how much trouble you would have gotten into." The black ponytail flipped back and forth as he shook his head despairingly.

"We wouldn't have gotten into any trouble!" I protested, after all you can only be punished if you get caught.

"I highly doubt that." He muttered under his breath. I was about to saw something when he interrupted me. "Alright, lets feed you and that wolf before she eats somebody."

"Don't worry," I said. "She only eats annoying guys with ponytails."

He rolled his eyes at me and then sushined off towards the market area I had walked through on my way to the tower yesterday.

I followed, and a minute later we were standing in front of a stall that sold buns with a sticky red jelly filling. I ate five, and Eboni ate seven, Sho only managed three. By the time we were done both Eboni and I were covered in the sticky filling, and Eboni looked like she had just eaten something particularly bloody, so we were getting strange looks. Sho was perfectly clean and I have no idea how he did it.

"So, now that I'm fed, what are we doing to day?" I asked curiously. After all the Suikage had promised that I wouldn't get too bored.

"I was told to bring you to the training ground once you'd eaten."

"Alright, lets go. I'm getting bored, anyways." I told him with an air of unconcern, although I was actually very curious to see what was waiting for me at this training ground.

The training ground was a grassy field dotted with a few trees surrounded by a high wooden fence. When we arrived there didn't appear to be anyone else there and I was a little disappointed. I was expecting something more interesting than a field.

Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and a green clad figure appeared. I arched an eyebrow at the flashy arrival, if it had been me, I would have just walked in or jumped out of a tree, a lot more discreet and less smelly.

The woman who had appeared wore tight fitting green clothes; she had long, slightly wavy, black hair and had green eyes that matched her out fit.

_What is up with green, today?_ I wondered.

"So, this is the other person we're supposed to form a team with? She's pretty scrawny, I could snap that little neck with one hand." The woman was looking me over critically, so I studied her in return. She had long legs, and I could see the lean muscles that ran through most of her body, but the thing that caught the eye first was her very ample chest, which she called more attention to by wearing a very low cut shirt.

The woman looked over at Sho and stuck out her upper lip in a pout. "Does the Suikage think we're babysitters?"

I frowned at that and was about to protest that statement when Eboni came to my defense. "She doesn't need one, she can take care of herself, and anything she can't handle, I can, so don't worry about Kasumi."

The woman's green eyes widened in surprise, "Is that a wolf? Where on earth did you find one that could talk?"

"Yes she is, and she can understand every word you're saying so don't talk about her as if she isn't there." I replied testily. This woman was already getting on my nerves and I had only just met her.

"Well, I got that from what she said earlier, but where does she come from? I've never heard of a ninja wolf before." She sounded sincerely interested, but she still annoyed me for some reason.

"Why don't you ask her?" I retorted.

"Well?" the woman asked directing her question at Eboni.

"I come from mist, and that is all the information you need to know at this time," Eboni replied primly.

I hid a grin. What Eboni said was true in a manner of speaking, because all Mist Hunters did supposedly come from mist originally, but I knew that that wasn't what Miss Green had wanted to hear.

"That wasn't really what I…. Oh never mind." She had obviously given up on getting anything out of my mysterious friend. "So, obviously you have some skill, but you're still tiny, and I doubt you can handle much of a beating."

Again, I was about to protest but this time it was Sho who stepped in for me. "Actually, Kasumi can handle herself fairly well in a fight, and as for taking hits, she survived a nice beating from Arashi yesterday and is moving about just fine today."

"You got in a fight with Arashi and lived?!" Miss Green stared at me, her mouth hanging open.

"She didn't just survive, she would have beat us if, the Suikage hadn't stepped in." Sho said, sounding almost proud of his near death at my hands.

"What?! Are you saying that she fought both of you and nearly won, that the Suikage actually had to stop the fight, so you guys would be okay, not the other way around?" she sounded extremely suspicious.

"Yep, she's really good, she froze Arashi solid almost immediately, if she hadn't accidently hit him with a kunai she probably would have beat us without a scratch."

"So, wait how does her hitting Arashi with a kunai make it so that she gets hurt, you aren't making any sense."

So, then Sho had to tell her the entire story from the moment they walked into the room and my attacking them to after when the Suikage had recruited me to the village. She gasped when she heard about my use of Sage Mode and growled something unintelligible when she heard about Soulless Blueberry and the rest killing Ayame.

"So, Shin and Sendo have resurfaced, this is good news. Now I can find and kill those jerks for rejecting me!" she growled under her breath.

"Ummm, Kana? Can you please not talk about killing my brother in front of me? It makes me want to destroy something and to be honest that might not be the greatest thing to do right now." Sho asked, sounding a little hesitant.

"Fine, but usually when I feel like destroying something I just go…" Kana, she must have been named Kana, broke off and looked over to our right. A young boy of about 8 or 9 was running towards us. Actually he was going at such speed that he couldn't stop in time and barreled straight into Sho. They both went flying and the kid ended up sitting on Sho. It took all my self-control to not burst out laughing. Obviously Kana didn't have as much self-control because she let loose with a raucous cackle that made several birds in nearby trees take flight.

"Hikaru! Get off of me!" Sho complained, as he tried to shift the dazed boy off. "And shut up Kana!"

"I… can't…help it! Its just to…" She burst out laughing again and couldn't speak any more.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked, pulling the dazed boy off of Sho.

"I'm ok," the boy said. He looked up at me with big tear filled eyes and rubbed his head, and I could tell he was actually in pain. I reached out and touched his head, using my chakra to inspect the injury, he had a slight concussion and would have a nice bruise on his forehead but otherwise he was fine.

"Of course you are," I replied, smiling down at him. He was a really cute kid. Black hair fell messily down into his giant, watery, brown eyes and his cheeks, which were red from unshed tears, were still round with baby fat.

"Hey, who are you? I've never seen you around before."

"My name's Kasumi, and you are?"

"I'm Uchiha Hikaru." He told me, sounding as if he were bragging about something although I wasn't sure what.

"Well, its nice to meet you, Uchiha Hikaru." I replied, trying to sound a little impressed at the name.

"Hey, Hikaru what are you doing here?" Sho asked, while he rubbed his stomach where Hikaru had head butted him.

"Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to deliver a message to team 13, which I think is you guys, although I'm not entirely sure."

"Yes, we are the newly appointed team 13," Kana told him.

"Great! Uncle wants you to come quick so he can give you your mission." Hikaru told us grinning, broadly, revealing a missing canine.

"What? But we haven't even had time to get to know each other's skills!" Sho protested loudly.

"I can't help that. Uncle does what he wants, don't take it out on me." Hikaru's eyes were filling up with tears again.

"Hey, don't cry! I wasn't trying to.. I didn't mean that…" Sho appeared at a loss as to what he could do to stop the imminent flow of tears.

"Oh, ok then!" Hikaru grinned the tears vanishing as quickly as they had come. "Hey, where's Arashi? Isn't he a part of your team as well?"

"Oh, him." Kana's tone was rather sarcastic sounding. "He's over there, sleeping in that tree."

"I am not!" an indignant voice called down. "I was meditating. I think I found that inner stillness you were talking about, Kasumi."

I froze and then moved as fast as I could to him. In a few seconds, I was up the tree and by his side. I studied his form, and caught wisps of mist curling off of him. "Crap! Eboni, I need you."

My wolf friend was crouched on the branch next to me in a few seconds, studying him as well. She leaned forward touched her nose to his forehead and a light began to glow around them, then it was gone as quickly as it had come. Arashi's misty edges had sharpened and returned too normal.

"What was that?" Arashi asked.

"Eboni was pulling the nature chakra out of you, if you had let much more in, you would have been just a scrap of mist to be dissipated by the sun." I glared at him. "I wouldn't suggest you do that again. It was incredibly stupid."

"Yeah, well, that's what Arashi is good at, doing stupid, reckless things." Sho said from right next to me. My arm shout out and slammed into his chest, knocking him out of the tree. "What was that for?" he groaned out once he had gotten his breath back.

"Don't sneak up on me! You're lucky all I did was punch you, I've stabbed people by accident for less." I had actually. After growing up with the Mist Hunters and Wave People and being taught how to survive in the wild jungle and ocean, I was sent out with Eboni, at age seven, to find my own kind. Along the way, I learned that most things that could sneak up on me were dangerous and should be treated as an immediate threat. Ending up in a ninja village hadn't done much to curb that little habit of attacking anything that startled me. It wasn't so much habit as a survival instinct.

"Good to know…." Sho said, picking himself up off the ground.

"So, can we go now? Uncle will probably be waiting." Hikaru asked sounding bored.

"Yeah, lets go. We wouldn't want to keep Tatsuya-sama waiting." Kana replied sounding a bit sarcastic.

I jumped out of the tree and we were soon at the Suikage's Tower. As we entered Rina looked up from behind her mountain of papers, it seemed to have gotten even bigger then the day before. "Oh, good you're here. He's been roaring down about how he needs you here this instant, for the last half hour and it has begun to interfere with my work." She looked over at me then and said, "Kasumi, I have you head protector here somewhere…." She began rifling through her desk, and I was afraid that she would be buried in an avalanche of paper.

"Here it is!" She held up a dark blue headband triumphantly. I reached out and took it, but didn't put it on. Instead I turned and proceeded to tie it around Eboni's neck, as if it were a collar. I got several bemused glances but otherwise nobody questioned my choice as to where the forehead protector should go.

The Suikage looked as if he hadn't moved since the last time I had seen him, his feet were still up on the desk and he had a book in his hand. Hikaru proceeded to speed across the room and fling himself at the Suikage, screaming, "Uuuuuunnnklllleeeee!"

I was a little surprised. The Suikage didn't look old enough to have a nephew, especially not one that old but when Hikaru was about six inches away from head butting the Suikage in the chest, he grabbed him out of the air, getting up as he did and swinging him in a circle before setting him back on his feet. Hikaru was giggling uncontrollably and the Suikage was grinning and laughing himself. It totally transformed him from an unreadable adult into a carefree teenager. I decided I liked the new look; it was a lot more natural.

"Hey, Hikaru, I see you brought them, as promised. Although you are a little late."

"Sorry. I couldn't find them at first and then Arashi was being stupid, so it took longer then I expected…." Hikaru explained, looking down at his feet, one of which he was scuffing on the ground.

"It's alright. At least you found them, and it isn't your fault Arashi acts stupid." The Suikage said, ruffling Hikaru's hair, and smiling down at him.

"Hey!" Arashi protested.

The Suikage ignored him, "So, now that you're all here we can begin. First of all, you are now officially a team, Team 13, and Kasumi, you are now a member of this village." He studied me for a moment, and frowned slightly, "Where is your headband? Didn't Rina remember to give it to you? I told her to, but sometimes she…"

"No, she gave it to me." I said, interrupting him. "I just put it on Eboni, since that's easier on both of us."

"Huh. You do realize that they are called forehead protectors for a reason right?" The Suikage asked.

"Yes, but they itch and slip down into my eyes and it gets annoying. So, if you don't mind, I would prefer to leave it the way it is." I explained, sighing inwardly. I had made this same argument to both Ayame and The Mizukage, when I was a ninja of Hidden Mist. It had taken quite a lot of wheedling before I finally managed to convince Ayame.

I smiled sadly at the memory of Ayame's worried face, her blue green eyes narrowed in concern and her full lips pulled down into a frown, as she impatiently pushed her curly auburn hair away from her face. She had constantly reminded me of how the headband showed pride in my village. And that I should wear it, because it would probably save my life as it had her's many times. I had always told her that it could keep Eboni safe by protecting her neck, instead of bothering me. She would laugh at that and then give in for a little bit saying it was pointless trying to argue with a stubborn brat like me.

I felt a cool touch on my hand as Eboni nudged me with her nose. "It can protect me as well, and I do not mind it."

"Alright, that's settled then. On to more pressing business, I have a mission for you. I know this is soon but it needs to be competent people and the only ones I can send right now are you guys. There are reports of a group of people who use lightning based attacks harassing some of the northern villages. I need you to check it out. The last group I sent up into that area hasn't reported back yet and they were supposed to do so nearly a day ago. I want you to go up there, figure out what is going on and put a stop to it. I'm sorry I can't give you any more information then that but I haven't had time to send more scouts. This is an A ranked mission so be careful. I want you to leave as soon as you can gather the supplies you will need. Dismissed."

I grinned. So the Suikage hadn't lied after all, this really was going to be an interesting place to live


End file.
